..........................................................................................................
Five minutes with ... Mons Røisland
Part of the DC snow team ’ s strong Norwegian contingent , the 20-year-old Høvik native has been making a name for himself this season , including an impressive win at DC ’ s Hit & Run . We caught up with him after stepping off the podium in Méribel for a chat . ..........................................................................................................
Hey Mons , how ’ s your week been ? Have you been to one of these before ?
First Hit and Run ever . It was a banger to be honest . The course was the longest I ’ ve ever done in my life , but it was so sick : banked turns , step ups , hips , tiny rollers , toilet bowl into a two-tunnel thing . It had the huge twenty-two-foot pipe and it was super fun , to be honest
Was it a good competition format for you ?
I think it ’ s really exciting because it ’ s something totally different . You can ’ t really tell whether you want to try to go fast or if you want to slow down and focus on the tricks .
I think you ’ ve just got to do a good combo - try to go fast and then slow down for your tricks . You get a five second maximum deduction of points - it ’ s a lot of seconds - so if you do good tricks you could actually end up beating someone that has a faster time than you .
Was it the same format for both runs ? What do you do in that situation , aim to hit the same routine twice or mix it up ?
No , the same thing . I did a different trick on the jump because I didn ’ t think I had speed in the second run - so I did a switch back twelve in the first run and a switch back nine on the second .
Well congrats on the win man . Where else have you been this season ?
All over the place . It ’ s been a hectic , stupid-schedule season really . Been in China , been in the U . S . a lot at Breckenridge , Aspen , Vail , and then been over in Europe .
I was just over at Absolut Park in Austria for Innsbruck Air and Style , then LA Air and Style . I ’ ve been a little bit all over the place - it ’ s been a hectic and weird season to be honest .
Sounds busy – are you spending more time on competitions or filming this year ?
It ’ s been a competition-focused season for me because it ’ s the Olympics and stuff next year and we have to do qualifiers and all that s ** t .
Have you qualified ?
We don ’ t know yet for sure , but I podiumed in an FIS contest . I think I ’ ve got it to the point that I need to and now it ’ s just up to the national federation to decide who they want to send . We ’ ll see . It ’ s going to be cool .
What ’ s been the standout place you ’ ve visited so far this year ?
Best place this season was probably Aspen for X Games . Aspen ’ s so sick , it is just like bluebird every day . It was so nice , had the whole family and my girlfriend out and we had a great time . I had good food , good vibes , some partying .
Nice . It ’ s not exactly a poor neighbourhood around there …
Oh , like the houses there , it ’ s messed up . Like mansions you don ’ t see anywhere else but magazines . You ’ re like ‘ why is every house out here so big ?’ It ’ s crazy . It ’ s kind of funny because you see all these kooky stoners and skiers in all these funny outfits around . But , it ’ s all good .
Louis Vuitton , fur …
Oh yeah , Louis Vuitton , Gucci , all over the place . That ’ s the only stores you find in Aspen .
The snowfall ’ s not been great around here this year , but I know all over the world it ’ s dumping in different places . Have you noticed that on your travels ?
Oh , a lot . It was so crazy when I was in Austria this year . One place where it was dumping - we got half a metre in two days - then we drove an hour , only an hour for a contest , and there was no snow except for the strip we were riding on .
Mammoth ( in California ) didn ’ t have much snow last year or the year before – but now it ’ s just dumping . It ’ s crazy because it ’ s so different and random every year . Tahoe has all of a sudden got snow , which they didn ’ t have for the last couple of years . Pretty sick to see some places get back to where they were a couple of years back . Hopefully it just continues that way .
What ’ s next for you ?
Next thing for me would be trying to start filming for a project - because I haven ’ t been filming as much as I want , and I really want to because it ’ s so fun . Just going out there - not thinking about anything else but having a good time , doing your thing , riding and filming . Your own project and your own thing .
What have you got in mind for it ? Street , back-country ?
Little bit of everything . Me and Sebbe ( De Buck ) want to go over to Whistler with Devun ( Walsh ) and Iikka ( Backstrom ) and have them kind of show us the ropes . You can ’ t get a better intro than having two legends like Devun and Iikka teach you in their backyard .
Then it would be sick to go on a street trip with Justin Fronius - he ’ s definitely one of my favourite riders in the street . And then park , just try to do some cool sunsets or shoots . Norway would be sick – it has some sick backdrops , stuff like that .
We look forward to it ! t